thornton



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1-. E. S. THORNTON.

GAME COUNTER. N0. 472,744. Patented Apr. 12, 1892.

r 4 s" 1 2 4 A (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. S. THORNTON. GAME COUNTER.

No. 472,744. Patented Apr. 12, 1892.

T d" \MT' 455555 {NVENTU UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDlYARD S. THORNTON, OF TROY, NE\V YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THOMAS HORTON, OF SAME PLACE.

GAM E-COUNTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,744, dated April 12, 1892.

Application filed June 1, 1891. Serial No. 394,681. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD S. THORNTON, of the city of Troy, county of Rensselaer, State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Game Counters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates toan improvement in that class of devices termed" game-counters, and which are used forkeeping tally of points made and games won; and my invention consists (as will be more fully detailed hereinafter in connection with its illustrations) in the combination, with a tablet made of wood or other suitable material having centrally placed therein a column of figures that are arranged in numerical order, of spring-pointers arranged at the side of said figure column, said spring-pointers consisting of helical coils made to encircleguides projected from the upper face of the tablet, with the inner ends of each of said coils making a tangent engagement with the top of the tablet and the outer ends of the coils each bent downwardly to make a tangent engagement with the adjacent side of the tablet, it being the object and purpose of my invention to produce a game-counter in which the pointers where placed to indicate a numerical quantity will be held in place by the resiliency of the pointers to better adapt this class of devices to perform the uses for which they are designed.

Accompanying this specification to form a part of it there are two plates of drawings containing five figures illustrating my invention, with the same designation of parts by letter-reference used in all of them.

In the illustrations, Figure l is a perspective of my improved game-counter. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same, taken on the line 00' 0c of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective of a modification. Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the modification shown at Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal central section taken on the line 50 03 of Fig. 3.

The several parts of the apparatus thus illustrated are designated by letter-reference, and the function of the parts is described as follows:

The letter T designates the tablet, which is preferably made of wood, and the letters 0 designate a column of figures arranged upon a plate I, that is placed in the top of the tab let and centrally arranged therein.

I The letters G designate guides that are preferably made of wire and projected upwardly a short distance from the upper face of the tablet, there being one of these guides at each side of the figure-column.

The letters S designate slides that are also arranged in the tablet-top at each side of the figure-column between the latter and each of the guides G.

The letters S designate slides arranged upon each of the sides of the tablet, and the letters P designate spring-pointers, each of which is made to consist of a helical coil of wire 7L, arranged to encircle one of the guides G, with one of the tangent ends E of each of said pointer-coils extended inwardly toward the figure-column at right angles to the latter to rest on the adjacent one of the slides S. with the other tangent end E of each of the coils bent downwardly, so as to bear on that one of the side slides S to which it is next adjacent, with the two ends of each of the pointer-coils so hearing from the resiliency produced by the helical coils h, which serves to keep them in place with reference to the figure-column as positioned until moved to indicate succeeding numbers.

In the modification shown at Figs. 3, 4, and 5 the figure-column plate I is journaled at each end at J in the ends 8 of a sink N, made in the tablet-top and adapted to be turned therein by a crank K, made on one of the journals J, so as to bring either of its opposite faces uppermost, so that different arrangement of figures may be placed upon the opposite sides of said plate 1. Thus, as shown at C, Fig. 1, a column of figuresincreasing from the bottom upwardly by the addition of fives may be used, which adapts this column to be used in counting when playing muggins, and by reversing the plate I, so as to bring the column of figures indicated at 0 Fig. 3,

uppermost, (where they increase by addition one at a time from the bottom up,) the device may be used to count in whist, euchre, or other games.

The letters 19 designate a pin, the head of which projects from the end of the tablet, as shown at Fig. at, and 11 another pin, which is also projected from the end of the tablet, so as to extend beyond the head of the pinp, so

that as the crank K, when operated to reverse the plate I, is turned down to pass over the pin 19 it is sprung in between the latter and the pin 19 and thus held in place for use, there being a set of such locking-pins p and p at each side of the end at which the crank is located. There may be used, as shown, two coil-pointers upon each guide, one to designate games won and the other to regulate points of a game as the latteris being played. Thus there is provided a game-counter for each of the two persons playing, which may be used for muggins when the counting is done by fives, or for counting whist or other games when points are designated by num-',

bers other than fives.

If desired, the coil-pointers as 1 illustrate and describe them may be made tobe used with a stationary scale, as shown at Figs. 1 and 2, or they may be used inconnection with atablet having a figure-plate adapted to be reversed, as shown at Figs. 3, 4, and 5.

The function of the slides S and S being merely to furnish asmooth surface with which the tangent ends of the pointer-coils may en-.

gage and over which they may be moved along, I do notlimit my invention'to the exact construction of those that I have shown, as other material than Wire may be used for their pro-i duction.

. Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a game-counting device, the combination, with a tablet, of a figure-column arranged in the center thereof, guides arranged upon each side of said figure-column, and springpointers, each made with a helical coil arranged to encircle each of said guides, with one of the tangent ends of each of said springpointers arranged to bear on the top of the tablet and the other tangent end of each of said spring-pointers to bear upon the adjacent side of said tablet, substantially in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a game-counting device, the combination, witha tablet, of a figure-column plate having different columns of figures upon each of its opposite sides and arranged on journals within the top of said tablet, adapted to be reversed, so as to bring either column of figures uppermost, substantially as described, guides arranged upon each side of said figurecolumn plate, and spring-pointeraeach made to encircle one of said guides'by means of a helical coil, with one of the tangent ends of each of said spring-pointers adapted to bear on the top ofsaid tablet and the other tan-. gent end thereof upon the adjacent side of the tablet, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed at Troy, New York, this 28th day of November, 1890, and in the presence of the two witnesses whos'e names are-hereto written. EDWARD S. THORNTON.

Witnesses: l

W. E. HAGAN, CHARLES S. BRINTNALL. 

